ALIA POV:

Over the past three years, I had knelt in this house more times than I could count. It had long since become a humiliating reflex, carved into my bones. The moment Eleanor's cane struck the ground, my body reacted before my mind could.

"Grandmother." My voice was eerily calm. "What have I done wrong this time?"

"Still playing the innocent victim?" Eleanor roared. "You shattered Elias's Moonstone Amulet—you committed a heinous sin against this family, and you still refuse to admit it??"

Elias. Cason's dead brother. Karin's late husband.

I looked up, meeting Eleanor's furious gaze. "I didn't touch Elias's amulet."

"Lies!" she sneered. "Cason was just pleading for you. I thought that if you simply confessed and showed genuine remorse, I might spare you this once. But you remain as stubborn and unrepentant as ever!"

"Guards! Take her to the Hall of Alphas. She will kneel there for a day and a night. Without my explicit order, no one is to give her food or water."

Cason stepped forward. "Grandmother, please calm down." He positioned himself in front of me, as if to shield me from her wrath. "Alia definitely didn't do it on purpose. She's just been under a lot of stress lately. She is my Luna—I will kneel with her and share her punishment."

Had it been a few hours earlier, I would have been moved to tears by his "protection." Now, watching his Oscar-worthy performance, my stomach churned with pure nausea.

He wasn't defending me. By offering to share the punishment for a crime I never committed, he was deliberately validating my guilt and pushing the Matriarch's fury to its absolute limit.

"Enough!" Eleanor roared, completely enraged by his "devotion." "You shield her time and time again, and what good has it done?If it weren't for you, I would have stripped her of the Luna title long ago!Cason, if you dare kneel with her today, I will add another day and night to her punishment!!"

Just like that, I was dragged to the Hall of Alphas.

I was all too familiar with this cold, cavernous sanctuary. Over the past three years, I had been punished here countless times.

And every single time, Cason would slip in late at night. He would kneel beside me, drape his warm coat over my shivering shoulders, feed me the food he'd smuggled in, and gaze at me with those agonized, heartbroken eyes.

I used to think that was love.

The hours bled into the deep night. The heavy oak doors creaked open. Right on schedule, Cason slipped in. He knelt beside me, reaching out to gently brush a stray lock of hair behind my ear.

"Alia, I'm so sorry. I tried to reason with her..."

The moment his fingers grazed my skin, it took every ounce of my willpower not to violently flinch. His touch, which used to ignite sparks of love in my blood, now felt like maggots crawling over my flesh.

A few hours ago, this man had bred me on a hotel bed like livestock. Now he knelt beside me, playing the heartbroken husband to perfection.

"It's fine." I stared at the cold stone altar ahead. My voice was hollow, dead.

Cason sighed heavily. He leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a low, seductive whisper.

"Just endure this a little longer, my love."

He must have believed that a few hours ago, on that bed, I'd lost consciousness entirely—that the "breeding" was a blank to me.

So now, while my memory lay "blank," he meant to rewrite that violation into a tender dream and murmur it into my ear over and over, until I believed it.

"We were finally together." His breath brushed my ear, sickeningly sweet. "You were so beautiful, it hurt. I've waited for this for far too long. We're truly bonded now. Soon, we'll have a child of our own."

Bile rose in my throat. A child of our own? You mean a pup for you and Karin to play happy family with.

"I can't wait," I replied softly, forcing out a faint, obedient smile.

Satisfied that his breeding machine was still completely under his control, he kissed my forehead and turned to leave.

Shortly after he left, I asked to use the restroom. The guards stationed outside wouldn't deny me that basic necessity, though a maid followed closely behind me.

As I approached the dim corridor leading to the restroom, two hushed voices drifted from the adjacent drawing room.

"Cason, is it really okay to let Alia take the blame for me again?"

My breath hitched. I pressed myself tightly against the cold stone wall and gestured for the maid to stay back. Intimidated by the Alpha's aura, she obediently stopped a few paces away.

"There's nothing wrong with it." Cason's voice came, stripped of the fake, tortured tone he'd used on me minutes ago, replaced by a sickeningly sweet, indulgent warmth. "She's used to taking the fall. You don't need to worry about her."

"But what if the freezing stone ruins her health?" Karin whimpered, her voice dripping with fake concern. "If her body breaks, how is she going to breed a healthy pup for us?"

My entire body went rigid. The sheer audacity of her words made my blood run cold.

Cason chuckled softly, a sound that made my skin crawl. "Don't worry, Karin. She's durable. A little cold won't harm her womb. All that matters to me is that you didn't cut your precious hands when you shattered Grandmother's amulet."

"I didn't." Karin sighed softly. "You are always the one I can rely on, Cason. I just can't wait to hold our baby."

"Soon." Cason's voice was full of devotion. "Once she gives birth, I'll tell her the pup was stillborn. I'll place the child right into your arms. In this pack, you will be the only mother that child ever knows."

My heart, already shattered into a million pieces, was ground into dust.

A primal, blinding rage urged me to kick the door open, expose their sickening affair, and demand a divorce right then and there.

But cold, hard logic slammed the brakes on my fury.

If I rashly demanded a divorce now, Cason would never agree. He still needed my perfect meat shield. He still needed my womb. If I provoked him now, as the Alpha with absolute authority, he could lock me in a dungeon, force a mating mark on me, and keep me chained up until I gave birth to the replacement pup his twisted scheme demanded.

I survived the rest of the day and night in the freezing hall. When the punishment finally ended, I walked out. My knees were bruised and bleeding, every step sending shooting pain up my legs, but my spine was ramrod straight.

Once safely back in my own room, I locked the door, pulled out my phone, and dialed the only person in this world I could still trust—my best friend, Harlene.

She picked up on the second ring.

"Harlene." My voice was eerily calm, stripped of all warmth and illusion. "I need your family's best lawyers. I want the Pack's legal documents for asset division, and I'm initiating the formal Rejection."

ALIA POV:

I sat on the edge of my bed, recounting everything to Harlene—the drugged needle, the hotel suite, the doctors watching like vultures, the way my own husband had bred me like livestock and then whispered his lie into my ear. I told her all of it without shedding a single tear.

"Alia, a formal rejection is a nightmare. You'll be cast out with nothing," Harlene said, her anger softening into deep concern.

"I know," I said, my voice steady, my eyes cold. "But I will absolutely not leave with nothing. I will make him pay for every drop of blood I shed. I just need those documents."

"Okay. I'll get my family's best lawyers to draft the Declaration of Rejection and the asset division papers. We'll make sure it's ironclad."

After hanging up, my gaze drifted to the window. Outside, on the large perch in the aviary, sat Cirrus. My beautiful white gyrfalcon—a gift from my father when I married into this pack, and my only true companion in this cold, gilded cage. After being used and discarded like an animal last night, he was the last living thing in this house that still made me feel human. He tilted his head, his dark eyes watching me, as if he understood my pain.

That evening, the atmosphere at dinner was exceptionally heavy with unspoken tension. Matriarch Eleanor sat at the head of the long table, her face stern. Karin Garcia, for once, was smiling at me—a sweet, cloying smile that didn't reach her eyes. It set every nerve in my body on edge.

The main course was brought out by a servant, placed on a large platter covered with a polished silver cloche.

Karin leaned forward, her voice dripping with sickening faux concern. "Alia, dear, Cason told me his 'injuries' are finally healed, and you two can finally have a child. I'm so happy for you both! So I specifically had the chef prepare a special dish for you. I hope it nourishes your body well."

Cason looked at her with eyes full of admiration, as if her gesture was the height of kindness.

His "injuries" finally healed. So that was the story he was spinning for her too—the same sweet lie he'd whispered into my ear while I lay wet and used on that bed.

With a theatrical, exaggerated flourish, Karin lifted the silver lid.

In the center of the platter lay two roasted birds, roasted to a golden brown and garnished with sprigs of rosemary.

My world stopped.

My eyes locked dead onto the leg of the larger bird. The familiar small silver band on it hadn't been removed.

That was Cirrus's band.

The blood drained from my face instantly. A hoarse, strangled sound ripped from my throat. I shot to my feet, my chair scraping violently against the floor with a piercing screech.

My hand trembled as I pointed at the platter. "What... what did you do to Cirrus?"

Her hand flew to her mouth, her eyes widening in feigned horror. "Oh my god! Was that your pet? I had no idea! I just went to the back aviary and saw two birds. I assumed they were poultry meant for the kitchens... I only wanted to make a nourishing soup for your pregnancy preparation..."

A wave of pure, undiluted hatred washed over me, so violent it left me trembling. After everything—after being drugged, bred, discarded—she had taken the one creature left that I loved, roasted it, and served it to me with a smile.

I rounded the table, my hand raised, wanting only to slap that smug, vicious smile off her face.

Before I could touch her, a hand like a steel vise clamped onto my wrist. Cason. He moved with Alpha speed, blocking Karin like an impenetrable shield. His fingers dug into my flesh, almost crushing bone.

"Alia! Are you insane?" he roared, his face contorted with fury. "Karin went out of her way to prepare supplements for you so you can give us a healthy pup, and you attack her over a damn bird?"

Give us a healthy pup.

The words dragged me straight back to last night—the cold bed, the monitors beeping, his weight pinning me down while the doctors watched. To him, I was nothing but the animal on that platter. A body to be used and served up to his true love.

I looked at Cason, at the way he shielded her, at the utter contempt in his eyes for my grief. The last fragile thread of emotion I had for this man snapped.

I stared dead into his eyes. "You're right," I said coldly. "It was just an animal. A disposable pet meant to fulfill a purpose." A beat. "Just like me."

With a strength that surprised us both, I wrenched my arm free of his grasp.

Suddenly, a deafening crash echoed through the dining room.

Matriarch Eleanor had smashed her heavy silver goblet onto the marble tabletop. Her face was ashen, her eyes fixed in sheer horror on the smaller bird on the platter. She recognized the distinct golden band on the roasted bird's leg.

"My Snow Dove..." Eleanor's voice trembled, then escalated into an earth-shattering roar. "You dared to slaughter my Snow Dove?!"

Karin's victorious smirk vanished instantly. She shrank back, her face turning as pale as paper. "Grandmother, I... I didn't know..."

Everyone in the pack knew those Snow Doves were the most treasured relics left by Eleanor's late husband. They were her untouchable holy items.

"Who gave you the audacity?!" Eleanor shrieked, her Alpha aura erupting, making the whole room seem to shake. "Guards! Drag her to the Hall of Alphas! She will kneel on the cold stone for three days and three nights!"